Annual Report 2020 “We have received improved seeds, which I have grown on a half-acre. The yields are very high, and this makes me very happy. I will grow these seeds again.”
Grameen Farm Development Plan beneficiary, Brong-Ahafo, Ghana Table of Contents
Message from President and Chair of Board:
Detours do not change our destination. 4
The Grameen Model: Amplifying the power of the poor. 7
Where We Work. 9
Responding to a Crisis:
COVID-19 RELIEF program targets 3,500 vulnerable female micro-entrepreneurs. 11
Emergency Cash for most vulnerable women. 12
From Ebola to COVID-19: Arming frontline workers with truth. 15
Grameen by the Numbers. 18
Financial Inclusion:
As Agent Network grows, Mittras become ‘essential.’ 20 WomenLink II catalyzes economic empowerment. 21
Digital Farming: Programs pivot to ensure farmers don’t lose ground. 23
Refugee Finance Solutions:
Helping families rebuild lives in Uganda. 26
Digital Literacy Training Guide helps refugees access financial services. 27
WAGE: Reducing barriers to women’s empowerment. 28
Strengthening Ecosystems. 30
A Look Ahead: Focus on India. 31
Our Partners: They light our way. 32
Consolidated Statement of Activities. 33
Grameen Foundation Leadership. 35
Bankers without Borders: A shout out to skillanthropists. 36
To Our Supporters: With your help, we can do more. 37
About Grameen. 38
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 3 CEO and Board Chair Letter
Detours do not change our destination.
Last year, our Annual Report letter concluded with: “We enter FY 2020 more inspired than ever and confident that we have created a roadmap to achieve limitless milestones ahead.”
Never could we have foreseen the detour that was 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic rounded the globe, Grameen Foundation, like so many others, encountered unimaginable twists and turns on the journey to fulfill our mission.
Here’s the thing about detours: They change your route, not your destination. With the United Nations forecasting the virus would cause the ranks of the poor to swell by between 240 and 490 million, we needed to be more intrepid in our trek than ever. The way forward was to change direction and work off map.
Grameen Foundation is not traditionally a relief organization. Our work developing and delivering digital tools and strengthening women’s and families’ ecosystems is designed to help them thrive. With the advent of COVID-19, we also needed to also help the most vulnerable survive.
Thanks to our extraordinary staff and partner organizations, we quickly launched emergency relief that provided cash or grocery and pharmaceutical goods to more than 10,000 at-risk beneficiaries in India, Uganda, and the Philippines. It is no small task to develop digital tools nd deploy new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency to identify beneficiaries, transfer funds, and monitor for fraud in a way that is safe, efficient, and transparent. And all in just a few short months.
Concurrent to these vital efforts, we worked to ensure existing programs stayed on track, and that our beneficiaries and staff stayed safe. In Ghana and Tanzania, for instance, we rapidly transitioned from face-to-face engagement with farmers to digital communication via SMS (text) and community radio, delivering messages to support farmers during and after the COVID emergency.
In India, we were able to leverage our network of Community Agents, called Mittras, who were already on the ground in the poorest communities. The Mittras went to extraordinary lengths to ensure their neighbors could access funds — many for the first time – when lockdowns prevented travel to distant banks. In making certain their neighbors were not deprived of food and medicine, Mittras also introduced them to digital financial tools that can change the course of their lives.
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Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 4 CEO and Board Chair Letter
Which raises another point about detours: When you are forced to take previously untraveled roads, you may see things you never have before. COVID-19 caused the world to detour. As governments around the globe scrambled to respond to the pandemic, they saw that digital access would be critical to their relief and recovery efforts, and they began knocking down barriers to expand digitization to the poor. They realized at new levels what Grameen Foundation has always known. Without digital access, entire populations in developing countries are cut off from the opportunity to establish online identities, save and borrow money, receive aid, reach markets with their crops and wares, and so much more.
The United Nations forecasts the coronavirus may set back global anti-poverty progress 30 years. We will be navigating the dark roads of this pandemic for some time. But if we are joined on the journey by governments, partner organizations, and donors who believe financial access delivered through digital technologies is one of our most promising paths to ending poverty, there will be light along our way.
Steve Hollingworth, President and CEO Peter Cowhey, Chair, Board of Directors
“ When you are forced to take previously untraveled roads, you may see things you never have before. COVID-19 caused the world to detour. ”
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 5 “I am happy that I got an opportunity to earn and help my family. From this income I will also pay my children’s fees, and help my family.”
Grameen Mittra, Nagpur District, India The Grameen Model
Amplifying the power of the poor.
The Grameen Foundation Model makes sophisticated use of digital data to connect the world’s poor to resources and information that allow them to make informed decisions that put food on the table, money in the bank, and joy in their lives. The model is successful regardless of access to Internet or the ability to read because it deploys digitally-enabled Community Agents to bridge that gap, connecting all the poor to the same services and supports.
Our comprehensive solution set.
Digital Financial Services Community Agents Digital Farming DFS gives women a better way to Digitally-enabled agents connect High-tech farming supports mange their money. their communities to Mobile Money give farmers a better way to and Digital Farming solutions. grow crop income.
Two-way, real time digital information flow. Delivered person-to-person.
Community Agents Digital Farming Digitally-enabled agents High-tech farming supports connect their communities for smallholder farmers to grow to information, tools, and crop income with geo-targeted, resources that change lives. market-connected information.
Fight poverty with data Community lift Data-rich solutions converted to A single agent can low-tech or no-tech applications, support 150 –1,000 eliminating need for Internet access. people, their families, Digital Financial Services neighbors, suppliers, DFS for poor women to save, borrow, and buyers. make payments, get insurance, and access health financing.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 7 “I am so happy that I will be able to provide banking services at doorsteps to the villagers. I feel proud that I am different from the other ladies.”
Grameen Mittra, Bhiwapur Block, India Where We Work
Grameen works in countries across the globe, focusing on large rural populations where disparities in wealth and gender inequality marginalize many. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., and with regional offices in the U.S., Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Grameen builds partnerships and programs in neighboring countries to connect poor communities, particularly women, to a range of financial, farming, and health services.
LATIN AMERICA SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA ASIA
Bolivia Bénin Nigeria Egypt Sudan Cambodia Colombia Burkina Faso Rwanda Jordan Syria India Ecuador Eswatini Senegal Lebanon Tunisia Indonesia El Salvador Ghana Sierra Leone Morocco Turkey Myanmar Guatemala Kenya South Africa Palestine Yemen Philippines Haiti Mali Tanzania Timor-Leste Honduras Madagascar Togo Vietnam Mexico Niger Uganda Peru
Each Community Agent Each Community Agent directly empowers indirectly impacts 150 750 clients on average people on average
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 9 “We were shocked and scared of the community quarantine... we were scared we would die of hunger.”
Grameen COVID-19 RELIEF beneficiary, Cebu City, Philippines COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 program targets 3,500 vulnerable female micro-entrepreneurs.
Soledad Regis is a 72-year-old widower in Muntinlupa City, Philippines. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Soledad was a micro-entrepreneur who helped support her family by selling packed meals to offices. She also worked in a small canteen. When pandemic lockdowns were instituted, Soledad and all the members of her household lost their sources of income.
“We were shocked and scared of the community quarantine… we were scared that we would die of hunger,” said Soledad.
Then Soledad learned she had been chosen as a beneficiary of Grameen Foundation’s COVID-19 RELIEF (Response to Enhance Livelihoods of Individual Entrepreneurs and Families.) Supported by J.P. Morgan, the program was designed to provide relief assistance and long- term recovery support to 3,500 targeted Filipino micro-entrepreneurs, especially women, who were hard hit by the pandemic.
“We were so happy when we received a call about the relief assistance. The assistance was really a big help to us,” Soledad said.
In Phase I of the program, Grameen In Phase II of the program, Grameen worked with our microfinance institution Foundation supported our MFI and financial tech partners to provide (microfinance institution) partners in non-cash relief assistance in the form equipping entrepreneurs with strategies to of vouchers for food and medicine, cope and respond to the COVID-19 crisis as well as COVID-19 crisis-related both professionally and in their personal financial advice sent through SMS (text lives. Drawing on our Resilient Life, messages). Beneficiaries with basic- Resilient Business (RLB) curriculum, we feature phones received SMS vouchers. designed learning modules to support a For those with smartphones, we partnered women entrepreneur holistically by with cLabs to design a solution using addressing gender roles, the constant Celo blockchain technology that allowed threat of shocks and stresses she faces, beneficiaries to download the Valora and by providing her with tools to thrive as app and shop online with their vouchers. a woman micro-entrepreneur in an ever- With the combination of these two digital changing environment. Beneficiaries were methods, we were able to deliver relief able to access modules through our that was fully digital, safe, fast, customized LearnWithGrameen app, and transparent. available on the Google Play Store.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 11 COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 relief programs in India, the Philippines and Uganda target most vulnerable women.
In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 raced across the globe, we knew Grameen Foundation needed to react rapidly to help vulnerable women and families survive the devastating impacts of the pandemic. With livelihoods lost due to lockdowns and crashing economies, families in poor communities—many of whom are day laborers with no savings—immediately found themselves 24,471 Beneficiaries reached facing the likelihood of hunger, lack of healthcare, and loss of housing. with COVID-19 emergency aid. With support of donors and partners, we quickly launched programs to deliver cash and non-cash goods to 24,471 struggling women and families in India, the Philippines, and refugee settlements in Uganda. We are confident the technologies and frameworks we’ve built and tested for these programs will continue to help vulnerable populations facing profound threats to their lives and livelihoods.
PHILIPPINES In the Philippines, we worked with two microfinance institutions to identify emergency cash beneficiaries and to deliver 100 (USD), as well as SMS (text) health and financial tips, to 180 families in six cities.
“ I bought food, especially rice, then used a portion of the cash transfer to stock up on my e-load business. The big difference that the cash transfer made was that I was able to use it for business...” — Beneficiary Estrella Arbizo Quezon, Philippines
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 12 COVID-19 Response
INDIA In India, we identified 165 poor families “ We are daily wage from the informal labor sector in laborers. Because of the Nwada, Bihar, delivering 60 (USD) to virus, we are all at home each for use in sustenance and to unable to earn. We are restart or support micro-enterprises for very grateful we were livelihoods. Designed for this program, offered some help.” our Grameen4Giving app and —Beneficiary Rajiya Devi “Grameen Vulnerability Index” allowed Nawada, Bihar us to identify beneficiaries and deliver funds in seven days’ time.
UGANDA In Uganda, we focused on providing relief to “ Before receiving the money, life was not going refugees in Bidi Bidi and Palorinya Refugee on well in my family; there was sickness, poor Settlements. Impacts of COVID-19 are particularly food diet. As soon as I withdrew the funds, I got severe in refugee populations, where the pandemic treatment for my family members. I also bought some food. I started a liquid soap business. The halted economic activities, blocked 90% of aid most important thing I would like to share with and 30% of food assistance, and caused an you is to congratulate you on your work and to increase in domestic violence and crime. Using an acknowledge Grameen in trying to help people entirely digital model, we identified and delivered like me.” 38 (USD) — enough to support a family for one —Beneficiary Lojong Stephen month — to 679 highly vulnerable beneficiaries. Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 13 “When I realized I could help poor producers adopt good agricultural practices in order to produce more, I just became so happy.”
Grameen Community Agent, Brong Ahafo, Ghana. Battling the Virus
From Ebola to COVID-19: Arming frontline workers with truth.
Late in 2019, Grameen Foundation, as part of a unique, multi-partner global consortium called EBODAC, worked with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson on a vaccine trial to battle the spread of Ebola in Rwanda. Rumors, lies, conspiracy theories and mistrust in the government had contributed to rampant spread of the virus in the nearby Congo, leading to 2,299 deaths. Grameen’s role was to help keep the same from happening in Rwanda.
Many months later, COVID-19 spread across the world, and with it the same type of misinformation we saw in the Ebola outbreak. Drawing on the successes of our earlier efforts, we set to work educating residents about this new virus in their midst.
The advantage we have in Rwanda and Sierra Leone are the networks of Community Health Workers (CHWs). Like other Grameen Community Agents, these local health workers are trusted and respected in their communities. Messages from government and healthcare professionals often are not.
With support of Johnson & Johnson, along with the Ministry of Health and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Grameen Foundation is training 55,000 CHWs in Rwanda to quickly provide their neighbors with crucial information about COVID-19 prevention. World Vision International is supporting a similar undertaking in Sierra Leone where we are training 6,000 CHWs.
Experience is our other advantage. In our war on Ebola, we applied Grameen’s MOTS (Mobile Training and Support) service to train Community Health Workers. The remote CHWs were most successful when they were able to access training modules on their own mobile phones, on their own schedules, and in their own languages. Applying those key takeaways in our new fight against COVID-19 has given us a homefield advantage.
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In July 2020, Grameen Foundation was privileged to join Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies in announcing that the European Commission had granted Marketing Authorization to Janssen for its new Ebola vaccine. Grameen Foundation played an important role in educating communities about the vaccine.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 15 Battling the Virus
We also learned the importance of providing support for the mental health of both the health care worker and the community. We recognize the mental health of many people suffers during these types of pandemics. Not only do those who get the disease often suffer from stigmatization, but family members, caregivers and even health professionals can find themselves overwhelmed as well. Grameen partnered with Johnson & Johnson to develop a mental health module that will provide tips that can be a beneficial lifeline for those dealing with mental hardships during a pandemic.
Another key takeaway is the importance of valuing and validating the efforts of CHWs who risk their lives to disseminate information in their communities. Even when delivered on their phones as part of COVID-19 training, recognition of their courageous efforts is greatly appreciated.
Grameen Foundation is training 61,000 Community Health Workers in Rwanda and Sierra Leone to teach their neighbors about COVID-19 prevention.
Grameen goal set in 2016 With help of our partners, Grameen has worked with to empower Grameen has reached 159 25 million 13,467,282 partner organizations people by 2025 since 2016 since 2016
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 16 “We feel privileged to have a [Grameen] Mittra in our community and she is always willing to help.”
Mittra financial services customer, Khamta Village, India By the Numbers
Grameen by the numbers.
3,124 411,593 New digitally-enabled Grameen Total of all Community Agents Community Agents in 2020 organization-wide since 2016
8,952,306 Total of all clients directly empowered by Agents since 2016
79 17 Active Partners in 2020 Countries in 2020
Progress toward 2016 goal of impacting 25 million by 2025.
54% 13,467,282 Total outreach since 2016
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 18 “I became a Mittra and I got my own identity. I am very successful, and people believe that I am very successful.”
Grameen Mittra, Nagpur, India Financial Inclusion
As Agent Network grows, Mittras become ‘essential.’
In 2020, Grameen Foundation continued our commitment to growing our Community Agent Network to bring digital financial literacy to the poorest women and families. Supported by the Ford Foundation, we worked to recruit and train 400 new digitally enabled Grameen agents, called Mittras, to serve 200,000 people in the Nashik district of Maharashtra, India. With support from Citi Foundation, we are scaling our Mittra model to reach 500,000 people in the Nagpur district of Maharashtra.
When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and Prime Minister Modi of India shut down the nation’s economy with four hours’ notice, our Mittras became more vital than ever to poor communities in India.
Asha is a Grameen Mittra in Bhandara, India. During lockdowns, women in her neighborhood, often the “treasurers” in the In 2020 we worked to scale our Community Agent model to reach household, were suddenly unable to access their accounts at distant banks. Whether from incomes, pensions, or government 700,000 people. cash grants intended to help them survive the pandemic, they couldn’t get cash to buy food or medicine.
Asha saw the people in the village become increasingly panicked about money that was “stuck” in their accounts, and she got to work serving her community. She set up shop with her mobile device and biometric reader in fields and in the streets to help her neighbors wherever they were.
Mittras like Asha, deemed “essential workers” across India, became mainstays for their neighbors as they gravitated toward digital financial solutions. By providing access to cash, the Mittras helped ensure the basic socioeconomic engine in their villages kept running. The Mittras also helped protect their neighbors from the virus by sharing information on wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. Some sewed and gave away masks.
India
Before the pandemic, Grameen Mittra Asha served about 30 percent of her village. Today she brings digital financial access to about 70 percent, opening doors to opportunities to manage their money safely and effectively, access new markets, and to save and plan for emergencies.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 20 Financial Inclusion
In Phase I, 30% of women started saving and average savings amounts grew 142%
WomenLink II catalyzes economic empowerment.
In December 2017, Grameen and Wells Fargo launched the three-year WomenLink II Program in the Philippines and India to catalyze economic empowerment by improving women’s access to and usage of financial services using digital financial platforms delivered through mobile-enabled Community Agents.
In Phase I of WomenLink II, Grameen Completed in 2020, Phase II of focused on addressing barriers to adoption WomenLink II addressed the barriers to of financial products and services due to low success for Community Agents, such as financial literacy and lack of trust in financial liquidity mismanagement, and ineffective products and services. To establish client marketing of products and services to trust and improve low-income women’s clients. Grameen developed and delivered awareness and understanding of financial e-learning modules to 849 Agents to help products and services, Grameen build their knowledge on digital financial implemented a financial literacy campaign products and services, as well as business that was delivered remotely through short management and product marketing skills. message service (SMS). Within the 24-month With the advent of COVID-19, Grameen implementation of the SMS financial literacy refocused the program to understand campaign, over 40,000 women received what Agents needed to stay in business. relevant and actionable messages containing Part of this pivot was the disbursement of information on basic financial products, COVID-19 liquidity support to provide money management tips, and digital financial agents with working capital so they could services. Phase I also resulted in positive continue to make their services available to behavior changes in savings practices; 30% their community. of the women started saving and the average amount saved grew 142%. There was also a 26% increase in the number of women who started transacting with Community Agents for bill payment.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 21 “When I was told about the Mittra in our village I was very content... I thank her for helping me out with all kinds of financial transactions.”
Mittra Financial Services Customer, Maharashtra, India Digital Farming
Programs pivot to ensure farmers don’t lose ground.
Smallholder farmers grow more than 70 percent of the food we eat on our planet. Yet 70 percent of those farmers live in poverty, sometimes unable to feed their own families. In 2020, we continued our work to help smallholder farmers break the cycle of poverty by delivering digital agriculture advice and tools to help increase productivity, access markets, and increase the sustainability of their farms.
With the onset of COVID-19, we had to rapidly transition two of our key agriculture programs from face-to-face engagements to digital communication to ensure that small scale producers had relevant and accurate information and services, both during and after the pandemic.
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“I am very overwhelmed because through my Grameen Farm Development Plan, I am soaring higher and there is no turning back.”
Joyce, smallholder farmer in Ghana
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 23 Deployed Digital Farm Development Plan (FDP) to help 240,000 smallholder cocoa farmers increase their yields
Funded by USAID, Farmer to Farmer COCOs is expected to impact 25,600 farmers and entrepreneurs
SAT4Farming | Digital Farm Farmer-to-Farmer | Volunteer Technical Development Plans | In partnership with Advice | In 2019, Grameen launched its UTZ and Rainforest, Grameen continued Farmer-to-Farmer COCOS (Capacity- work in Ghana to deploy our Digital Farm building of the Coconut Subsector) Development Plan (FDP) to help 240,000 Program designed to engage 64 U.S.- smallholder cocoa farmers increase their based volunteer technical consultants to yields by more than 300%. We placed help smallholder coconut farmers and particular focus on reaching female farmers entrepreneurs improve productivity, who have long been marginalized from the profitability, and resilience. In 2020, three cocoa supply chain. typhoons and a global pandemic suddenly put international travel on hold, compelling The FDP tool is used by Grameen us to create a new framework for the Community Agents to collect and analyze program that paired local volunteers like agribusiness-level data to create multi-year Jazaika Bienvenido with virtual U.S. plans that help farmers better manage volunteers for the first time. costs and financing of their agribusiness operations. With the declaration of “By sharing what you know, you can also COVID-19 as a pandemic, Agent visits to learn something new, make friends, farms were suspended for the protection of connect with the community, and [gain] a staff and farmers. We were able to help sense of purpose, especially at times like farmers have continued success with their this,” said Jazaika. plans by monitoring and advising them Funded by USAID, Farmer-to-Farmer through digital channels, including is expected to impact 25,600 farmers community radio, SMS (text messages) on and entrepreneurs. mobile phones, and short videos shared on smartphones.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 24 “It is clear we will get many more bags of maize and cowpea and more money to put towards our family and health with this year’s yield.”
Grameen Farm Development Plan beneficiary, southern Ghana Refugee Finance
Refugee finance solutions help families rebuild lives in Ugandan settlements.
More than 1.4 million women and families in host communities in West Nile, Uganda. the refugee camps of Uganda may not be Key activities included linking 175 VSLAs able to return home for years — if ever. receiving loans from RUFI, and business They fled civil war in South Sudan with little training to ensure loans are effectively used more than the clothes on their backs and to help them create sustainable businesses. are now in limbo without active citizenship We also provided the groups refresher and the ability to lay down roots for their financial education and LedgerLink training. families. Providing access to digital LedgerLink is Grameen’s proprietary financial services – the ability to withdraw Android application that allows remote or send cash through a local agent, to build savings groups to digitally record their a credit history through their VSLA (Village day-to-day meeting information, as well Savings and Loan Association), to take a as savings and loan information via a small micro loan to start or expand a group smartphone. business – helps these women create With support from FJC - A Foundation of identities, provide for their families, and Philanthropic Funds, we were able to build a life despite their histories and extend the FSD Uganda Smiles4Refugees their circumstances. program, designed to accelerate expansion In 2020, with support from FSD (Financial of small businesses in refugee settlements. Sector Deepening) Uganda and the Keith V. Key activities were digitizing savings Kiernan Foundation, we worked to increase groups’ records using LedgerLink, access to finance for women living in Bidi extending credit to savings groups and Bidi and Palorinya refugee settlements and providing them with savings solutions.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 26 Refugee Finance
Digital Literacy Training Guide helps refugees access financial services.
Digital financial services (DFS) have spread rapidly in Uganda, including mobile money, peer-to-peer payments, digital humanitarian cash transfers, mobile banking, credit and insurance products, and merchant and bill payments. The services have the potential to dramatically increase refugees’ access to financial services both for basic needs and for small businesses. However, assessments conducted by Grameen Foundation and GSMA (an industry organization of mobile networks), show that refugees in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement still face many challenges to access and adoption of DFS.
To address some of these challenges, Grameen partnered with GSMA and MTN (Uganda telecommunications network) to develop “The Digital Literacy Training Guide,” an engaging curriculum designed to address the knowledge, attitudinal, and skills barriers that prevent refugees, especially women, from accessing and using financial services. Completed in 2020, the curriculum builds refugees’ awareness of digital financial services available in their area. It also addresses common concerns and fears to help them be comfortable using DFS in their lives. Unlike some other digital literacy training tools available, the guide is uniquely designed to activate the demand of customers who have never engaged with digital financial services or digital tools before.
“The Digital Literacy Training Guide” is designed to be delivered by local Community Agents and women influencers. It will be tested as part of a wider approach to engage women to become promoters of digital literacy and eventually Grameen developed The Digital Literacy Training on-ramp them to careers as digital financial Guide to help refugees overcome barriers to services agents in their communities. accessing financial services.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 27 WAGE
Reducing barriers to women’s empowerment across the globe.
Since 2018, Grameen Foundation has been part of a global programming consortium supported by the United States Department of State called Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE). WAGE’s vision is a world in which women and girls enjoy equality, freedom from violence and poverty, and meaningful inclusion in the processes that shape their communities, nations, and international affairs. WAGE is led by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, in close partnership with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Search for Common Ground, Grameen Foundation and 43 resource partners.
In 2020, Grameen Foundation continued our work to advance the status of women in countries around the world.
WAGE: El Salvador and Honduras | The Reducing Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment in El Salvador and Honduras Initiative is led by Grameen Foundation and is focused on providing women in the region with resources they need to succeed as active and equal participants in the global economy. One activity under the Initiative is a loan matching fund, which will revolve over the course of three years to match loans posted on Kiva’s crowdsourcing platform. More than 8,800 women have benefited from loans amounting to $4.4 million.
Grameen Foundation, WAGE, Kiva, and its partner MFIs (microfinance institutions) recognize that credit alone is not sufficient to meet the multifaceted needs of women entrepreneurs. Together, we have implemented a series of technical assistance interventions, informed by in-country assessments, to improve women’s financial inclusion and economic participation. These include training women entrepreneurs using Grameen’s Resilient Life, Resilient Business curriculum. We are also training MFI staff on gender, conflict, and power dynamics, and creating linkages with other organizations that provide health or gender-based violence support so that women entrepreneurs can access the services they need.
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Graciana is among the thousands of women who benefited from access to finance through the WAGE Reducing Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative. Graciana, 71, supports her family in El Salvador by raising pigs. With a loan from Kiva, she was able to buy feed, vitamins, and anti-parasite treatments to grow healthier pigs and improve her business. Next, she plans to enlarge her pig farm and buy dairy cattle.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 28 WAGE
WAGES’s vision is a world in which women and girls enjoy equality, freedom from violence and poverty, and meaningful inclusion in the processes that shape their communities, nations, and international affairs.
WAGE: Timor-Leste | Women entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste face increased risk of Gender- Based Violence (GBV). MFIs provide women entrepreneurs access to finance, but their services are not attuned to gender norms or the risks of GBV. At the same time, business skills and GBV training developed by Women’s Empowerment Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) often do not reach female entrepreneurs. Grameen Foundation, as part of WAGE, is working to strengthen MFIs’ capacity to offer gender-responsive services and the CSOs ability to provide business and GBV training to help poor, rural women become successful entrepreneurs.
WAGE Eswatini | Intimate partner violence is endemic in Eswatini due to deeply entrenched social norms regarding the role of men and women in the household and the community, tacit acceptance of the use of GBV as discipline against women who step outside these social norms, and weak formal and informal legal systems to provide justice for survivors of GBV.
The Strengthening Legislative Responses and Community-Level Prevention of GBV in Eswatini project is a one-year program jointly implemented by American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and Grameen Foundation to build the capacity of Eswatini’s government, legal, and civil society actors to respond to and proactively prevent Gender-Based Violence through integrated legal, victims’ support, behavior change and women’s economic empowerment interventions.
WAGE Myanmar | In the wake of continuing conflict in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, WAGE is working with a cohort of women leaders to promote lasting peace and inclusive economic development. Women leaders in three Rakhine townships will be selected and empowered to identify and address barriers to peace and economic stability through participatory assessment, training, action planning, and financial assistance. The project will also promote increased community-level support for women’s leadership roles and their political and economic participation through gender and community dialogues and other awareness-raising initiatives.
Rule of Law Initiative
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 29 Strengthening Ecosystems
Enhancing women’s economic empowerment.
Underlying the Grameen Foundation Model is a deep understanding that Community Agents and the poor women and families they serve do not live in a vacuum.
That’s why we work to strengthen women’s ecosystems with interconnected programs that promote gender equity, peer support, market engagement, health and nutrition.
Market Engagement Gender Equity Avenues that enable poor Interventions and communities to access information that help and actively participate transform gender norms in in the agricultural, the household, community, financial, and health and marketplace marketplaces
Formal Products Information & Expertise and Services Knowledge and skills Financially sustainable tools gained through available to meet the needs information, tools, and of poor women, their families, training that are easily and communities to accelerate accessed and understood their climb out of poverty
Peer Support Women’s groups and field agent networks that provide encouragement, practical support, and training
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 30 A Look Ahead
Focus on India.
Grameen Foundation has long worked to enhance incomes and livelihoods of people in last-mile poor communities in India. In 2021, with support from our generous donors, we are privileged to design and launch three exciting new programs, including, for the first time, initiatives focused on helping smallholder farmers.
Business Correspondent Network – Experiments and Demonstrating Scale In partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grameen Foundation India will conduct an action research project to strengthen the Business Correspondent (BC) model in India. The project aims to answer key questions on the efficiency, productivity, profitability, and sustainability of BC networks (such as Grameen’s Mittra network) that can be integrated in the BC business model to make them more effective in driving financial inclusion among low-income people, particularly women, in rural India. Anticipated People Reached: 100,000.
Transform Agriculture Ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh Grameen Foundation is working in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ernst & Young to transform the agricultural sector in select districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The program will promote a Food Systems approach to agriculture through nutrition-based crop diversification, introducing innovative, women-friendly, and climate-smart technology, and developing market linkages.
Market Access through Digital Innovation In partnership with Walmart Foundation, Grameen Foundation has launched an ambitious project to strengthen the capacity of farmer producer organizations FPOs to connect smallholder farmers, especially women, to markets, finance, and ag-tech solutions with the goal of improving farmers’ incomes and resilience in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Grameen Foundation India (GFI) will build the capacity of 40 FPOs to support 12,000 smallholder farmers to diversity their agricultural production and use digital data to make decisions regarding crop planning, production, and marketing. Grameen Mittras will support farmers’ access to digital payments and other financial services to improve household resilience to shocks. Grameen will also build capacity in gender mainstreaming to improve outreach, membership, and leadership by women. Anticipated People Reached: 12,000.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 31 Our Partners
They light our way.
To deliver sustainable solutions that address problems affecting millions of poor households, Grameen Foundation worked in 2020 with 79 partners across industries and sectors. Together, we identify, incubate, and grow products and services from early promise to wide-scale impact so they continue to support our partners long after a program concludes.
In recent years, Grameen Foundation has developed an array of products and services— originally designed for our own use—to strengthen organizations with similar missions, including TaroWorks™, Bankers without Borders®, and Poverty Probability Index® ( PPI ® ).
Current partners by the numbers.
29 NGOs 7 Technology companies 77 active partners in FY20 5 Agricultural value chains 2 Social enterprises
19 Financial service providers 15 Academic institutions, governments and others
90 organizations Volunteers More than in 30+ countries in our Bankers without Borders 600 organizations have used our TaroWorks mobile program have provided have used the application to efficiently collect, $28.3 million Poverty Probability Index (PPI) analyze, and act on the data from in in-kind services to to measure household more than 5,000 digitally-enabled poverty, allowing them to track 290 social enterprises field agents to benefit more than and improve their services around the world 3 million people. since 2008. since 2006.
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 32 Funding
Consolidated Statement of Activities ( July 2019– June 2020)
Support and Revenue
Contributions and grants 2,629,912 Government grants 930,024 Program revenues 3,390,271 In-kind contributions 552,162 Interest and investment income, net 58,393 Other 1,106
Total support and revenue 7,561,868
Expenses Program Services
Financial Services 2,069,775 Health and Agricultural Solutions 1,772,123 Strengthening Organizations 1,515,946 Regional Programs 530,196 Public Education 855,240
Total program services 6,743,280
Supporting Services
Management and General 2,711,761 Fundraising 273,397
Total supporting services 2,985,158 Total expenses 9,728,438 Changes in net assets before other items (2,166,570)
Other items
Program related investments loss (21,578) Refund of unspent grant funds (37,844) Foreign exchange rate gain 12,759
Total other items (46,663) Change in net assets (2,213,233) Net assets at beginning of the year, as restated 6,171,729 Net assets at end of the year 3,958,496
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 33 Funding
Type of funding
Contributions and grants 34.8%
Government grants 12.2%
Program revenues 44.8%
Interest and investment income net 0.8%
In-kind contributions 7.3%
Other 0.1%
Total expenses Programs 69%
Management and general 28%
Fundraising 3%
Program expenditures Financial services 31%
Health & agricultural services 26%
Strengthening organizations 22%
Regional programs 8%
Public education 13%
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 34 Ebola to COVID-19Leadership
Grameen Foundation Leadership
Executive Officers Board of Directors Directors (cont.)
Steve Hollingworth Officers Leslie Hyman President and CEO Co-founder and CEO, Circa Peter Cowhey Brent Chism Chairman of the Board Ed Michael Reggie Dean, UC San Diego School of Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Future Factory Global Policy and Strategy Programs Startups and early stage investing
Elisabeth Rhyne Jeanne Schwartz Grover Thomas Vice-Chair Vice President, Chairman of the Board of Independent Consultant Fundraising, Marketing Stemlab-Crioestáminal specializing in financial inclusion and Communications Marianne Udow-Phillips Ellen Breyer Conan Wickham Lecturer, University of Michigan Treasurer Director, Finance School of Public Health and Ford Former President and CEO, Policy School Hazelden Foundation Herminia Gutierrez Principal, Mu Consulting Interim CFO Art Goshin, MD Juan Vallarino Secretary Former Senior Vice President, Founder/President/CEO, Employer & Payer Engagement, Foundational Leadership Healthy World Foundation Hospital Corporation of America Muhammad Yunus Inspiration for the Directors Daniel B. Wolfson Grameen Foundation Executive Vice President, Shantanu Agrawal and founding member of ABIM Foundation Chief Health Officer the Board of Trustees Anthem, Inc. Alex Counts Beverly Morris Armstrong Emeritus Board Members Founder of Grameen Foundation CFO, Atlantic Council Muhammad Yunus
Marie-Renée Bakker Edwin T. Baldridge Independent board member and Peter Bladin Senior Financial Expert Susan Cleary Garratt Carlos Fonseca Senior Vice President of Susan Davis Sales Strategy and Solutioning, Bob Eichfeld Financial Institutions, Insurance, Mastercard Paul Maritz
Vikram Gandhi David Russell Founder and CEO, Weldon Wasson VSG Capital Advisors Lawrence Youngblood William G. Hamm Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 35 Bankers without Borders
A shout out to skillanthropists.
Thank you to the volunteers who contributed their time and talent between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
Theresa Abecia Evan Fox John McKenzie Stacey Ackerman Laura Frum Lily Milisits Annette Acosta Alejandro García-Salmones Julian Moreno Martínez Zarin Ahmed Katie Morton Allison Garman Omar Ahmed Jonny Mowlem Ellen Gerlach Shasche Allen Balamurali Nandhi Sabina Ghinescu Saloni Arora Maiko Nicklos Kayla Good Greg Ballard Arturo A. Noriega Madhu Gumballi Sydnie Beckman Seyitan Oke Emely Hanson Michelle Bennett Clifford Oliver Jonathan Harris Naveen Bennur Julia Orlando Andrew Hauffe Kevin Bertrand George Otoo Doreen Huang Segun Bewaji Paola Pacheco Rachel Huerto Kristi Bodnaruk Rajesh Palaria Kathy Hunt Carole Boissat Peter Papac Ervinas Janavicius Rebecca Boland Cara Parrella Jade Johnson Jen Bui Marsine Perry Raghavendra Kaliga Paul Butler Raghavendra Marina Karcheva Michelle Caley Rachamadagu Felicia Kelly Gregory Cardinali Suzanne Ramos Bharath Kolla Francine Chye Jillann W Richardson- Rohrscheib Stacey Kruckel Eamon Coughlin Kara Rosas Nicole Kugelmass Antoine Daccache Marco Rudin Safia Lakhani Ashish Debray Jocelyn Sandberg Janavi Lakshmi Bryan Dodson Narasimhan Jessy Savant Eric Doesburg Michael Lang Vaishant Sharma Joe Donaghue Joshua Lau Aarthi Shivakumar Owen Duffy Vivian Li Tim Steele Gabriella Epstein Genevieve Liang Kelly Sullivan Alan Esteves de Luis Lopez-Stipes Morgensztern Abhilash Vishwanathula Joseph Macdougall David Fay Nenad Vujcic Marie Mangano Nathan Feldman Daniel Wang Anthony Martin Alfredo Fernandez Nancy Wells Stephanie Matthews Carlos Ivan Fierro Kate Woska
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 36 To Our Supporters
With your help, we can do more.
Thanks to our donors and partners, Grameen Foundation has, since 2016, impacted more than 13 million people living in poverty. With the World Bank forecasting 150 million could be living below the extreme poverty threshold of less than $1.90 a day in 2021, due to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus, there’s much work yet to do. Here are ways you can help us develop and deliver solutions to give the poor the tools they need to lift themselves, their families, and their communities from poverty.
Give Today Visit GrameenFoundation.org to make a gift in support of our fight against poverty. Your gifts are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Gifts of Stock or Securities. When you transfer shares to the Grameen Foundation, you are giving in tax advantaged ways. Send your financial advisor a letter of authorization to transfer (not sell) the shares of specific stock(s) to Grameen Foundation’s main brokerage account. Let them know the date by when you wish to complete the gift, the name and number of shares you wish to donate, and the purpose of the gift. Please alert us with this information as well and include your name and mailing address and the purpose of your gift.
IRA Charitable Rollovers. If you’re 70½ or older, you can give any amount up to $100,000 from your IRA without having to pay income taxes on the money.
Give at Work Employer Matching Gifts. Ask your employer if they have a matching gift program that will match your gift to Grameen Foundation—if not, consider asking them to create one!
Give Tomorrow. Bequests. Make Grameen Foundation a beneficiary of your bank account or retirement plan account, or name Grameen Foundation in your will or living trust.
Legacy Giving. For more information about how to leave a lasting impact, please visit https://grameenfoundation.org/legacy-giving.
If you have questions about any of these giving options, please call us at (202) 628-3560.
Volunteer Join our Bankers without Borders® volunteer corps and use your professional skills (regardless of your field of expertise) on projects to help the world’s poorest—whether on location or from your desk. Learn more at BankerswithoutBorders.com.
Join us on our social networks.
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Linkedin StopPovertyNow @GrameenFdn Grameen_Foundation Grameen Grameen-Foundation
Grameen Foundation Annual Report 2020 37 About Grameen Foundation.
Grameen Foundation is a global nonprofit whose mission is to enable the poor, especially women, to create a world without poverty and hunger. In collaboration with our partners, we harness the power of digital data to create tech-forward tools for self-sufficiency and deliver them through local Community Agent networks. The Grameen Foundation Model is transformational regardless of Internet access, smartphone ownership, or the ability to read.
Visit GrameenFoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Like us on Facebook.
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